in Asian and East Asian religions, gave the keynote Charles Strong Trust lecture
on his research into Falun Gong. Both the AASR and NZASR remain groups
where studies in religion and other disciplines find a forum for discussion and
the sharing of new methods and ideas. In the AASR, for example, while
sociologists (e.g. Alan Black, Philip Hughes, and ’Tricia Blombery) have always
been a strong group in an association founded and directed for many years
by staff in studies in religion departments, in the last few years they have
become even more dominant, although most of these scholars do not teach in
studies in religion departments. At the same time the more traditional member-
ship from teaching staff in studies in religion departments has decreased. The
recent book on new age spiritualities by Adam Possamai (Possamai 2005),
immediate past president of the AASR and sociologist at the University of
Western Sydney, is a good example of the strength of research in religion carried
out beyond studies in religion departments.
Studies in religion finds itself combined with various other discipline areas
in Australian and New Zealand universities. At the University of Sydney,
Studies in Religion is situated within the School of English, Art History, Film
and Media administered by the Faculty of Arts; at the University of Queensland
it is located in the School of History, Philosophy, Religion and Classics; and
at the University of New England it is included within the School of Classics,
History and Religion. Massey University’s program is located in the School of
History, Philosophy and Politics; at the University of Canterbury it is teamed
with Philosophy, while at the University of Otago it sits with Theology; and
at Victoria University it is situated in the School of Art History, Classics and
Religious Studies. The first and primary relations, therefore, are generally made
with the disciplines within these schools. Depending on the area of research,
studies in religion staff often build relations with colleagues at other universities
in a variety of teaching areas when applying for national and international
grants. A good example is the team of Majella Franzmann (Studies in Religion,
University of New England), Iain Gardner (Studies in Religion, University of
Sydney) and Sam Lieu (Ancient History, Macquarie University), who have
successfully applied for grants to study the Church of the East and Manichaeism
in China (Gardner, Lieu and Parry 2005).
Studies in religion per se does not exist as a discipline area within tertiary
study in the Pacific Islands except for the Divine Word University, as noted
above. However, religion is an area of study especially for historians, anthro-
pologists, and sociologists. Increasingly, younger indigenous people from the
Pacific Islands are studying religion in the context of their own home islands,
informed in many cases by the particular Christian denomination that
missionized that island. Many are reinterpreting Christianity through their own
indigenous religion. A fine example is the Masters thesis from Ilaitia Tuwere
(2002), now teaching in the School of Theology at the University of Auckland,
who uses the Fijian concept or symbol of land (vanua). What is lacking,232
MAJELLA FRANZMANN